VANCOUVER: Joyce Murray, Minister of Digital Government, on behalf of Seamus O’Regan Jr., Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources has announced $648,250 for Fast + Epp, a structural engineering firm from Vancouver, toward the construction of their head office, a four-story, hybrid, mass timber and steel building.
An official statement said: “Investing in Canada’s forest sector by building sustainable communities is an investment in our future. This is why the Government of Canada supports British Columbia’s dedication to mass timber projects by increasing the use of wood as a green building material and leading our transition to a low-carbon economy.”
The Vancouver project is a highly visible head office building that showcases innovative mass timber design and construction technologies and is highly replicable across the country.
This demonstrates Canada’s leadership in low-rise non-residential wood construction while helping to reduce our carbon footprint and contributing to Canada’s growing bioeconomy.
Funding for this project is provided through Natural Resources Canada’s Green Construction through Wood (GCWood) program, which encourages the use of wood in non-traditional construction projects, such as tall and low-rise non-residential buildings and bridges.
The program aims to position Canada as a world leader in innovative timber construction systems and technologies and in the low-carbon economy.
Projects like this will help Canada achieve its 2030 climate change goals by finding effective ways of building sustainably using Canadian wood products.
Joyce Murray said: “I am pleased to see such innovative mass timber building design in downtown Vancouver. By supporting greater use of sustainable, carbon-storing wood in construction, we can protect the planet, create jobs and support the competitiveness of the forest sector in Western Canada.”
Seamus O’Regan Jr. said: “Wood is being used more and more in building bigger and taller buildings, and we’re leading the world at it. Creating new markets for Canadian timber supports our forestry workers, creates jobs, and gets us to net zero.”